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Comment by Judgmentality | Hacker News Reader

> Picks up the occasional backfiring car though.

Never really used it, but from what I've heard (which is just comments on the internet) it's unreliable enough that it's not particularly useful.

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> it's unreliable enough that it's not particularly useful.

Any machine or black box that law enforcement can use either as pretext for doing whatever they want, or as something to point to to absolve themselves of responsibility, has value.

> Any machine or black box that law enforcement can use either as pretext for doing whatever they want, or as something to point to to absolve themselves of responsibility, has value.

I think you left out “negative social” before the last word there.

Actually it is extremely useful. However it won't work as well if you use a silencer. (Which are better named suppressors, the gun is still quite loud but won't be doing as much damage to your hearing.) As in, we can make it work. But making it sensitive enough to catch quieted guns inside of houses will also make it sensitive enough to generate a ton of false positives.

This is one of the main reasons why there is a debate about the use of silencers. And people who want to be able to use silencers have an agenda to make the technology seem less useful than it is.

Did you know lawn mowers, weed whackers, and automobiles already use this verboten technology? Otherwise known as the innocuous 'muffler'.

Don't kid yourself, there's agendas on both sides, and a hefty chunk of law related to firearms accessories is nothing more than prosecutorial/political window dressing to provide ammo for throwing massive numbers of charges at defendant's to increase the likelihood an AG can secure a conviction through plea deal, or strip yet another citizen of a fundamental civil right.

Note how the involvement of a firearm in anything can double or triple the number of charges that can be levied against a person. It means anyone unfortunate enough to develop a passion for firearms as a hobby has an uphill battle to fight just to prove that by default "they didn't do anything wrong". Those same silencers also protect the hearing of those around a shooter as well. Add the ATF to the mix, and simply having tools and trying to modify a firearm for better ergonomics can land the unaware in hot water when the ATF finds out and make a determination you illegally converted something into something else, and they don't like it one bit.

The humble remote hole punch has become a favorite poster child for the more authoritarianly bent to convince people to part with Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.

I have no silencers/suppressors other than on previously mentioned equipment, and possess no firearms for which I'd be interested in acquiring any, but I did do a short stint wading through the regulatory more that is firearm regulation in the United States.

Abandon all hope, you who enter the domain where a string and a rifle can become constructive possession of a machine gun.

Do you work in law enforcement? This sort of tech seems particularly useful to move units in to respond to in progress shootings especially to reinforce and pinpoint the source of distress for 911 calls.

Some law enforcement seems to love it, though others have rejected it (some after using it for a while) because of cost, studies of its low reliability (particularly, high false positives), low benefit because actual gunshots tend to get as much information from 911 calls as Shotspotter provides, and community relations concerns.

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